


Chapter X: To Say A Prayer

by SallySS



Series: Love Trunk [12]
Category: Claymore
Genre: Beheading, Blood and Gore, F/F, If you've been reading my stuff so far you have a good idea of how I write gore, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mass Death, graverobbing, multiple character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 04:18:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SallySS/pseuds/SallySS
Summary: Excerpts from the daily life of Rona, a new addition to the warriors known as Claymore, led by the mysterious Organization. Follow her through her struggles and triumphs as she fights to survive against the flesh craved yoma and awakened beings.- The trio is united at last





	Chapter X: To Say A Prayer

The northern winds were brutally cold, whipping up bits of snow and ice from the barren land and blowing directly into traveler’s faces like the land itself was trying to force all life out. A few people talked of a city that used to be this far north, but whether myth or not, it no longer existed in any form; the only thing of note was hearty and gnarled flora, and scarce wild fauna that didn’t dare come near. Stephanie stepped up on a pile of snow laden rocks and looked out upon the frigid landscape, “Why in the shit would Stella come to some place like this? There’s nothing here!”   
  
Rona slightly shook her head as she squinted at the bitter wind in her face, “I don’t know but she’s definitely here, she’s making no attempt to hide her yoki. She’s not much farther, we should catch up with her before we risk being caught by the hunting party. I don’t think you and I would fare too well against them, especially with you missing your dominant arm.”   
  
Stephanie snickered a bit and stepped off the rock pile, “I didn’t lose my dominant arm, I’m left handed. No one had forced me to use my dominant arm before.”   
  
“Oh.” Rona responded, not having thought about that before, nodding slightly in approval. “I was going to ask you something about that; you didn’t lose your arm because you were watching me, were you?”   
  
“Well, you  _ are _ very distracting.” Stephanie said nonchalantly as she began walking. Was she being… sultry? Her voice was uncharacteristically smooth, charming even, with a hint of mischief.    
  
_ ‘Is she flirting with me?’  _ Rona flushed and almost lost her footing, stumbling a bit, but quickly straightening up, “W-what?” Why was her heart racing all of a sudden?   
  
Stephanie cocked an eyebrow and looked back at Rona but rolled her eyes, “Oh goddesses, come off it Rona, I meant because you were partially awakened.” She was back to her familiar poisonous tone.   
  
“Oh,” Rona breathed out, “Right. Yeah.” She retracted her yoki a bit to let the cold air cool the blush on her face.  _ ‘Guess that settles that. Damn Heslin.’  _ She grumbled internally, tagging along behind Stephanie. __  
__  
They crested a small hill and looked down into a valley that stretched out for a few miles. Stephanie attempted to cross her arms, but when that failed she simply sighed impatiently, slouching her shoulders some, “Isn’t that where that villager said this bread city was supposed to be?”   
  
“He said it was _ Pieta _ , not  __ Pita .” Rona corrected.   
  
“And he was an old geezer that stunk of cheap booze. No one else had even heard of this place and it’s not on any map.” Stephanie spat.   
  
“Does it matter? We found Stella.” She pointed out into the valley, a speck of blonde hair in the distance the only thing that wasn’t white or grey for miles. The yoki aura confirmed it was her.   
  
That perked the superior up. She craned her neck as if it would help her see better and once she was satisfied she started jogging down into the valley after her. Rona tagged along behind, hoping this would be a warm welcome.   
  


“Stellares! Hey Stells, what the hell are you doing so far north? You could have just told me you wanted to come here.” Stephanie slowed to a walk as she approached, seeing the other warrior digging in the snow and rocks. “What are you doing?”   
  
“Looking for something.” She said dismissively. “You shouldn’t have followed me. You’ve put yourself in great danger.” Her silver eyes flicked up momentarily from the ground to Stephanie’s missing arm. “And it already looks like you’re not in the best shape.”    
  
“Well, we’re already here, you might as well tell us what you’re looking for and why the organization felt the need to send the damn hunting party after you.” Her excitement burned off quickly at the lack of answers from her comrade.   
  
“Corpses.” Stella huffed as she stood up, “There. Now you know.”   
  
Stephanie waved her hands in the motion that she was looking for more information. “So… there was a town up here? Or what, why are you looking for corpses? Whose corpse?”   
  
“Stephanie, if I tell you any more they’re going to kill you.” Her eyes were both stern and full of worry.   
  
“Pfft, who? The hunting party? The only reason they did this amount of damage was because I wasn’t allowed to kill them.” Stephanie chuckled to herself.   
  
“You are a fool if you think Iris is the strongest member of the hunting party.”    
  
Rona instinctually grabbed the hilt of her weapon, but paused when Stella put up her hand, “No, not I, but there are some that are much stronger than the two of you.”   
  
Rona let her hand drop back to her side, “But you’re the only higher number among the warriors. Can you tell us what’s going on? I don’t think even if we turned back now they would let us live to be honest.”   
  
Stella took a calculated breath before closing her eyes and sighing deeply, “I suppose you’re right on that accord. I’m looking for the corpses of warriors, ones that long preceded our time.”   
  
Rona’s brow wrinkled in thought, “But, there was only a handful of warriors that came before my generation; are you talking about warriors before them even? Why would the organization lie about something like that?”   
  
Stella shuffled a bit, still wary to reveal everything but looked at the two of them and came to terms with them being her allies in this battle; that she didn’t have to do this alone. “Because the organization is what killed them.”   
  
Stephanie rolled her eyes and let her head loll back, a groan escaping her lips. “Who the hell filled your head with such garbage? Do you see any graves up here? It’s a blizzardy waste land as far as the eye can see!”   
  
“Stephanie would you shut up for five minutes!” Stella barked at her which actually made Stephanie bite her tongue.   
  
Stella straightened her shoulders and reigned in her anger, “I am looking for these corpses because I met someone who claimed they escaped this mass purging of warriors. There was a battle here in a city that was once Pieta, the north was completely overrun by awakened beings that the warriors were assigned to extinguish. They caught on that they had no chance of winning, but despite their best efforts to make it out alive, only a handful survived to live in secret.”   
  
“No human would have been able to escape such devastation if there was a battle to the magnitude of which you speak, so you met a former warrior?” Rona thought this all sounded much too strange.   
  
“You could say that. She is the only one left of those survivors. She told me that in her time, the survivors grouped up with the other warriors still under the organization’s influence and had toppled the organization, that they had driven them off this land. But the organization returned with what we call the hunting party.”   
  
“Returned? From where?” Rona could see in her eyes that she wasn’t making this up, and that familiar pit of unease began to grow.   
  
“The mainland. This place we live in is but a mere island. The warriors of the hunting party are not from here like we are, they come from the mainland and work hand in hand with the organization to keep us in line so we do not rise up against them again. The hunting party systematically hunted down and destroyed the traces of past warriors and awakened beings, starting over this experimental base from nothing.”   
  
“So the yoma…” Rona began.   
  
“Not the natural threat we believe them to be. Manufactured for destruction, just as we are.” Stella hung her head, feeling ashamed for being fooled.   
  
Stephanie shook her head, “Wait wait wait. So there’s a bigger place, using us like pawns? To do what?”   
  
“Manufacture super soldiers. Tweak their recipes for making warriors and see what is a success, and what is a failure.” She motioned to Stephanie’s stigma. “Why do you think you’re the only one who turned out like that? They’re not trying to save these people from yoma, they’re experimenting with our lives.” Stella turned to look out on the field laid out before her. “I thought it was far fetched too, but she told me that this is where the graves of her comrades were; that the hunting party took their grave markers and leveled whatever rubble was left of the buildings. I haven’t found their bodies, but the knee jerk reaction from the hunting party alone has all but confirmed my suspicion.”   
  
“So where is this warrior? How did you find her and why did she tell you all of this?” Rona looked out on the land and could almost envision a city where there was only grey skies and snowy fields amidst the mountains.   
  
“I met her when I was hunting the awakened that killed my family.” She figured that Stephanie knew by now, the lie lasting only long enough for her to break away. “She explained this to me because I almost killed her.”   
  
Stephanie tilted her head, “Why would you kill a fellow warrior. Of all people, you should have been able to read her yoki, no matter how much she tried to hide it.”   
  
Rona looked to Stella as she stood silent with her back to the duo. “Because she’s an awakened being, isn’t she?” When Rona received no reply she rubbed the back of her neck. “Goddesses Stella... is she the one who killed your family?” her voice was a but a hush, almost carried away by the wind, but the way Stella shook it was clear she had heard.   
  
“She didn’t… meant to.” It was like she was trying to speak with all the air sucked out of her lungs. It was difficult for her to accept this, but if what this former warrior said was the truth, then this was a problem that was a potential threat to everyone on the island.    
  
Rona shot a glance to Stephanie to keep her quiet before stepping forward and placing a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “I know this is hard, and you want to avenge your family, but you know in your heart this is the right thing to do. We are here for you.”   
  
Stella tried to compose herself before turning back to them, “If I find their bodies, it will prove her right. If the organization escaped once before, it is our duty to finish the job and cleanse this island once and for all of their influence.”

Rona looked to Stephanie to see what she had to say about all this.   
  
The superior grumbled a bit. “Fine, but fix my arm first, I don’t want to be digging around in frozen ground with one hand.”

 

\-----------------------------------------

 

It took a bit of searching, but there were gouges in the ground that held their shape due to the cold and the soil being frozen, the places where the swords were originally driven in as grave markers. Rona said a silent prayer as they uncovered a body, feeling as though they were desecrating a grave, but if this would be proof enough of the story to strike back at the organization, then their souls might just forgive them for disturbing their sleep.

 

Unfortunately, with the ground being frozen year round, it also didn’t allow for decomposition. With a churning in their stomachs, Rona and Stella stood off to the side, Stephanie surprisingly taking the initiative to keep digging further and when she was finished, she brought back the neck cloth with the warrior’s symbol. “I certainly haven’t seen this symbol before.” She held it out for the others to look.   
  
Rona looked to Stella, “Well, let’s go meet your awakened being.”    
  
Stella shook her head, “I can’t do that.” She silenced Stephanie before she began to protest. “We can not lead the hunting party to her. They are uncertain if she is still alive and have searched far and wide for her.”   
  
“What do you propose we do? They will be here probably in half a day’s time if not sooner.” She had a bad feeling about what the answer was going to be.   
  
Stella shrugged, “If they try and take deadly force against me, they will get their just desserts.”   
  
Stephanie laughed, “Yeah, that’s the badass Stella I grew to love!”   
  
“For now, let’s get out of this weather. It looks like it’s going to get a lot worse.” The storm clouds were rolling in, bringing in a strong wind with them. Looked like the makings of a blizzard.   
  
Rona nodded, “Agreed. Do we have anything to start a fire with?”   
  
\--------------------------------------

 

The trio decided to hunker down in a barn just on the outskirts of the nearest city. If the hunting party made good time they didn’t want to turn this city into a war zone. Thankfully it was a newer building, so the draftiness was kept to a minimum and the body heat radiating off the livestock kept it quite cozy inside, if not a bit pungent. 

 

Rona was almost eager to see Stella fight at full strength, maybe even wipe them out singly handedly, but then slumped at the thought that she herself had fought a mere spectre of a warrior and almost lost. Just what kind of power gap did these warriors have to bridge? Branly had mentioned she was  _ ‘one of the strongest warriors’  _ they had ever had. Just watching Iris and Stephanie fight was like watching worlds collide, and yet Stella outperformed them in every category; it sent a shiver down her spine, both nervousness and exhilaration.   
  
Stephanie came over and laid down, flopping her head in Rona’s lap, jerking her from thought. “Uh, can I help you?”   
  
“What? I didn’t want to put my hair down in the straw.” Stephanie whined like an annoying older sister.   
  
“Maybe Heslin had the right idea when he hinted you might have a crush on me.” Rona teased back and almost didn’t move out of the way fast enough as Stephanie shot back up.   
  
“What did he say?!” She barked, face surprisingly flush for a supposedly innocent woman.   
  
Stella walked in from outside, latching the door shut behind her tightly, some preserved foods wrapped up in a pack within her hands. “What are you two bickering about now?”   
  
“Stephanie has a crush on me.” Rona chuckled.   
  
“Would you shut the fuck up?!” The woman was clenching her fists like she was about to reach out and strangle the sassy soldier.   
  
Stella cracked a smirk, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” she tossed the food to Stephanie. “Here, put something in that piehole.” She took a seat and cracked her neck. “We’ll wait out the storm in here and go find the hunting party after it’s passed. For now, you should eat and sleep, I can tell you’re both exhausted.”

 

Rona couldn’t lie, she was tired, not properly rested from the fight with the hunting party before, and Stephanie had gotten even less sleep than her, plus having a limb regenerated straining her further. There was no fuss from them as they settled down for a few hours.    
  
\--------------------------------------

 

Rona jerked awake as she felt Stella’s yoki completely envelope the area. A quick glance showed she wasn’t in the barn with them and Rona hurried to her feet to grab her weapon. “Stephanie get up something’s wrong!”    
  
Stephanie groaned groggily, it hadn’t even been an hour they were allowed to sleep, “What the fuck… what now?” She lifted her head up, straw sticking out from all angles.   
  
“I don’t know but Stella just released a massive amount of yoki, something’s happening!” She sheathed her claymore and looked down at Stephanie as the higher ranked warrior put her head back down. “What are you doing?”   
  
“Getting some damned sleep! Whatever it is Stella is more than capable of handling it. I wouldn’t even go Rona, you’d just get in the way.” She closed her eyes and focused on drifting back to a sweet slumber.   
  
“If I wasn’t so sure you’d behead me I would kick you in the teeth right now.” Rona headed outside and almost got blown over by the gust of wind and ice that pummeled into her, visibility almost nill. The blizzard was on full bore but Rona was determined to see what the fuss was about. She began to follow the yoki to its core, almost growing sick at its intensity, her mind buzzing in response. It was inside the city, almost smack dab in the middle as far as Rona could tell, which made her blood run cold and she picked up the pace. Almost as soon as she started seeing the buildings, she saw the blood. Even with the snow falling as quickly as it was, it couldn’t cover up the thick coating of crimson on the cobblestone road. As she ran through, she noticed that every home was broken into, doors hanging off their hinges and windows shattered. “What the hell happened here?” She felt no Yoma, awakened being, or warrior present other than… 

 

Rona stopped in her tracks, not sure if it was safe to proceed. Stella couldn’t possibly have wreaked this carnage… could she? Why? She wasn’t an awakened, what would be the point of this bloodshed? Her mind was reeling and she could feel herself shaking, and not from the snow. Rona bit the inside of her cheek, if Stella was going to kill her, there was nothing she could do to stop it anyway, she might as well get answers.    
  
“STELLA!” Rona shouted from the town square, hoping Stella could hear her over the howling winds. The gruesome scene only grew worse as you walked through the town; bodies strung across rooftops, smeared across business fronts, eviscerated in every which way. Rona was torn between absolute fury and a soul crushing fear that Stella was going to do the same thing to her. “Goddesses protect me because I am a stupid fucking woman…”    
  
Stella walked into the square, slowly becoming visible in the storm. Her face was twisted in anger, but Rona couldn’t read if it was directed at her or the gore of the city.    
  
Rona’s hand twitched, wanting to grab her claymore but she stopped, knowing it would be no use. She tried to say something but her throat was twisted in knots, it burned to even think of speaking.    
  
“That damned Abdima!” Stella screached. “How the hell do they let her get away with this?!”   
  
The relief that washed over Rona almost made her break down in tears, her heart pounding out of her chest. She took a few deep breaths, blinking away the wetness in her eyes. “What do you mean? They were here?”    
  
“Apparently so. I’m trying to find them, but Lune is concealing them too perfectly. This is why they keep that beast in shackles! She’s no different from an awakened, hungering for human guts, destroying whole towns. If I find her, i’m putting my blade in the back of her neck.” Stella was stewing, even angrier that she was empty handed.   
  
“That’s a gracious death, she doesn’t deserve such a kindness.” Rona walked over and put a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “We should head back and say a prayer for the city.”   
  
Suddenly it was like time had slowed to a crawl and both warriors turned their heads to look into the distance. 

 

They both felt it. 

 

The three auras of the hunting party flickering into existence.

 

Before Rona could even turn back to look at Stella, the superior had vanished, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Rona took off after her, but lagged painfully behind even with using a healthy chunk of yoki. 

 

She pushed her way inside the door of the barn as she heard Stella’s blood curdling scream, stumbling over to her, her legs numb. Stella was knelt on the ground, hunched over something. “Stella? What-”    
  


The other warrior sat up, face red and wet with tears, holding Stephanie’s beheaded body. “THEY  _ MURDERED _ HER RONA, THEY KILLED STEPHANIE!”   
  
Rona’s eyes went wide and she fell backwards, kicking out to back away from the corpse, her stomach dropping and her heart gripped with fear. She couldn’t hold in the sorrow or fear, turning to the side and throwing up, every inch of her body shuddering. “This isn’t real, this can’t be real.” Her fists gripped handfuls of straw, her mind in pieces. Rona knew warriors fought and died, she knew they could be her friends, she knew they could be any rank, but not like this. The highest rank, beheaded in cold blood as she slept, by the  _ hunting party _ just like the cowards they were. Rona squeezed her eyes shut, Stella wailing in the background as she cradled her comrade in her arms. She should have stayed,  _ GODDESSES WHY DIDN’T SHE STAY? _

 

“What a shame, they die so young.” Lune stepped out from the shadows, her lackeys in tow and in perfect shape thanks to her intervention. “Now Stella, are you going to come quietly, or are you going to meet your friend’s fate?” Lune lifted her arm, holding Stephanie’s head by a fistful of hair.   
  
Rona was about to bolt up and attack them but her body was lead, one of them manipulating her yoki to keep her still.   
  
Stella’s hands shook as she lowered Stephanie’s body to the ground. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to take Stephanie, all of her, and dig her a proper grave. While i’m doing that, Abdima is going to tear you into a million pieces till there is no solid piece of you left, which is going to take a long time considering you’ll be regenerating constantly. Then, when you’re finally nothing but goop, Iris will stab Abdima in all her non lethal areas and let her bleed out before finally cutting herself in half slowly, starting between her legs.”

 

The hunting party chuckled at that, drawing their weapons.   
  
Stella got to her feet slowly and walked over to stand in front of Lune. “And when I do finally die, I will find you three in the next life and torture you for all eternity.” She took Stephanie’s head out of Lune’s hand and by the looks on their faces, they couldn’t move a muscle. “Now devour each other like the animals you are.” Her eyes flashed yellow, face contorting and warping of it’s own volition. Her release of yoki was like a physical wall slamming into each of them and Rona saw everything going black, tunnel vision swallowing up her consciousness.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

When Rona awoke she wasn’t able to tell if she was dreaming or not. She was tucked into bed, the room was warm, and there was food set on the bedside table for her. Stella wasn’t around, and it felt like she had been sleeping for years. She figured the best thing would be to fill her aching belly as she waited, knowing that if Stella was around she would be back soon. Sure enough, once Rona had ate her fill and started strapping her armor on, Stella walked through the door.    
  
Both of them spoke at once, asking how the other was doing, before stopping and standing in silence. Stella rubbed the back of her neck, “Not good.”   
  
Rona set her armor down and stepped forward, pulling the taller woman into a hug and having her rest her head on Rona’s shoulder. “It’s ok to mourn Stella, no one should have to bury their friends.”   
  
“She wasn’t a bad woman.” Stella protested to the world as her voice cracked.   
  
“I know she wasn’t…”


End file.
